May

          The month of May was my busiest month yet and was so wonderful for so many reasons. 

          I visited the ancient city of Ephesus with one of the other YES Abroad students. Seeing the ruins was absolutely amazing and I couldn't believe I was finally getting to see it in real life instead of just in pictures. I also had a really exciting moment when I met a few exchange students from Poland and was able to help them talk with another girl on the train by translating from English into Turkish. It was a truly wonderful moment to be able to help others make connections in the language I have been trying so hard to learn. 

Me and Elsa in front of one of the most famous ruins at Ephesus.  

          My host family celebrated Mother's Day with a trip to the beach town of Kuşadası to spend the day with the whole family. My host dad made mangal, Turkish barbecue, and we all laughed and ate and enjoyed our time together. 

          I was able to visit Istanbul with my classmates to tour colleges and see the city. It was interesting to visit some different colleges and see what some of the differences between American colleges and the colleges here were. We also got to see some of the most famous sites of Turkey including the Blue Mosque, the Hagia Sophia, and the Basilica Cistern. I also got to spend some quality time with my classmates which I am so glad for as my departure date draws ever closer.

With friends at our restaurant on the Bosphorus Strait. 

Experiencing the wonder of the Blue Mosque. 

With all my wonderful classmates. 

          I have gotten into a routine of volunteering at a local preschool. It is always such a joy to be able to help out the teachers there and to get to talk with the different children. 

          Most recently, I was able to go to my school's graduation ceremony. With the exception of the performance of my city's traditional dance, it was very similar to American graduations. I loved seeing the new class of graduates celebrate and to join in the excitement of my class as they became seniors. 

The Turkish Language

          My main goal of the last almost 9 months has been to learn Turkish. This seems like such an easy pursuit when I say that way, but it has been anything but. Perhaps a better way to say it would be that the Turkish language has been the bane of my existence here. 

          Turkish is both a very difficult and very simple language. The grammar is very complex seeming but once you have learned it, it is hypothetically relatively easy to use. So today, I will attempt to give you all an insight into the beautiful language that I have devoted this year to learning. 

The first thing to know about Turkish grammar is that the word order is opposite from English, although this is flexible and you can usually be understood as long as the verb is always last in the sentence. 

Ex) Bir kitap okuyorum. - I am reading a book. 

However, translated directly from Turkish this sentence says a book reading am I. 

Which leads to verbs. Turkish verbs are wonderful because there are no irregular verbs and you can tell the subject of the sentence based on the conjugation of the verb, which means you are often able to not put any subject word into the sentence and everyone still knows what you are talking about. 

Ex) Koşuyorum. - I am running. 

      Koşuyorsun. - You are running. 

      Koşuyor. - He/She is running. 

      Koşuyoruz. - We are running.  

      Koşuyorsunuz. - You (plural/formal) are running.  

      Koşuyor(lar). - They are running. 

The subjects in Turkish are Ben (I), Sen (you), O (he/she/it), Biz (we), Siz (you formal/plural), and Onlar (they). However, as I said above, these often aren't used in sentences and are just assumed from the ending on the verb. 

Ex) Okula gidiyoruz. - We are going to school. 

Using biz is not necessary because it is implied by the ending on the verb. 

Turkish is an agglutinative language meaning that there are many endings that you add on to words to change their meaning. Because of that, it is possible to make an entire English sentence with one word in Turkish. 

Ex) Ev - house

      Evim - my house

      Evimde - in my house

      Evimdeyim - I am in my house. 

Another interesting part of Turkish grammar is their use of vowel harmony. There are 8 vowels and whenever you add endings onto words, you have to make sure that the vowels "match". If the word has a, ı, o, or u, the ending you add will also have those vowels. If the word has e, i, ö, or ü, the ending you add will also have those vowels. Seems confusing but really just takes practice. 

The last thing I will mention because I'm guessing most of you don't really care that much about Turkish grammar is that there is no gender on nouns. It is truly a language lovers dream because every noun is used with either bir which means one or with nothing before it. 

Ex) Araba kullanıyorum. - I am driving a car. But directly translated as car driving am I. 

This is such a tiny part of the enormity of Turkish grammar but it may give you some idea of what this language is like and maybe it was at least a little bit interesting. 

Now I will list some of my favorite words and things you are most likely to hear if you were to come to Turkey. 

Merhaba - Hello

Nasılsın(ız)? - How are you? (Casual and formal) 

Hoşgeldin(iz) - Welcome

Hoşbulduk - The response to welcome

Buyurun - There is really no English equivalent of this but is said when you enter shops or houses usually and kind of means look or here you go. It's ised all the time. 

Teşekkürler/Sağol - Thank you (formal and casual)

Inşallah - used as hopefully. 

Maşallah - a pretty general exclamation but used as great or wow mostly. 

Some of my favorite/most used words:

Ahududu - raspberry. I have actually never seen a raspberry in Turkey but I still like the word. 

Keçi - goat. This was the first Turkish word I learned and it has stuck with me although I don't use it much. 

Karpuz - This was pretty much the only word my friend Jake knew when we arrived and he told it to us so much, it became one of the only words I knew for awhile. It means watermelon. 

Çay - it means tea. Now whenever I hear chai tea I laugh because it sounds like they are saying tea tea. 

Susar mısın? - I just think this phrase is really funny because it's the polite way of asking someone to shut up. Basically "Could you please shut up?) 

I hope I didn't bore you all too much with this post and I hope it gave you a little glimpse into what I've been studying these past months. Turkish is an incredibly difficult language to learn but it is truly very fun to speak and is really beautiful when spoken by people with not my accent. I get frustrated by this language very regularly but I am so glad that I decided to learn it and I can't wait to continue my learning. 

Thanks for reading! Have a wonderful week! 

Istanbul: Take 2

          This past weekend, I went back to Istanbul, this time with my classmates to visit colleges. We visited four colleges but  also had plenty of time for sightseeing while we were there. This post is mainly going to be pictures with descriptions of all the places we went.

          Our trip began on Thursday night as we drive overnight to arrive bright and early in Istanbul. 

Yeditepe University. The first university we visited and where we stayed in the dorms during our trip. 

Boğaziçi University. An absolutely beautiful campus and a school that many American universities have exchange programs with. There was some kind of fair going on the day we were there. 

The view from the Boğaziçi campus. 

We also visited Istanbul Technical University on Friday but I didn't take any pictures. Although I am going to college in the U.S. it was still interesting to see some colleges and hear what some of the current students had to say. 

We also visited Koç University on Saturday which was my favorite of the school's we visited and had a beautiful campus. A lot of American schools also have exchange programs here, so maybe I will be studying there in a few years. 

On Friday night, we had a nice dinner at a restaurant right on the Bosphorus. Everyone got dressed up and we took lots of pictures before eating and dancing. It was so much fun and me and Priya decided that it was our make up prom and that we were each other's dates. 

We visited a place that had a view of the whole city and took pictures there. 

We visited Taksim Square and got to wander and see the famous trolley car go up and down the Main Street. 

Saturday night, we went to a mall where my oldest host sister met me and my other host sister for tea and birthday cake for my birthday that day. 

Dolmabahçe Palace. This was the center of administration for the Ottoman Empire for many years and was the home of many sultans over the years. Atatürk also used it as his presidential palace much of the time and spent the last days of his life there. The interior is absolutely gorgeous but pictures weren't allowed so I don't have any for you all. 

The Blue Mosque. I was far more excited about seeing this than any of my classmates but it just blew my mind to be in a place with so much history. The interior was gorgeous although it was incredibly crowded, so it was a little hard to enjoy. 

The Hagia Sophia. Another truly incredible thing to see. You can clearly see what parts of it are from when it was a church and which were added when it became a mosque. It is still being restored but there is a lot of very cool stuff to see inside. 

The Basilica Cistern. I don't know a lot about the history but it was very cool and eerily beautiful. I was surprised to discover that the cistern is actually full of water; I had always assumed the floor was just made of very shiny rock and that was what caused the reflections. 

Topkapı Palace. Another home of the Ottoman rulers. I was not allowed to go in with the ticket I had because it was apparently only for Turkish citizens (although they let Priya in because she looks so Turkish), so I ended up having to go get another ticket and missing half of our tour. The part I did see was very cool though!

Our last activity of our trip was a ferry boat ride on the Bosphorus. We played loud music, sang, danced, and enjoyed the beautiful views of an absolutely amazing city. 

          I had such a wonderful time on this trip, spending time with my classmates and falling ever more in love with the country that is home now. I was so grateful to have the opportunity to see so many amazing things during this trip and to have celebrated my 17th birthday in such an amazing city with such great people. 

           As always, thanks for reading! Have a wonderful week wherever you are! 

My Trip to Samsun

          A few weekends ago, I was lucky enough to get to go visit the three other YES Abroad students in their host city of Samsun. Samsun is a city of over 600,000 people on the coast of the Black Sea.

          I left from Aydin in the morning of Thursday, the 23rd of April and began what turned into a bit of an adventurous day of travel. Between the train ride, a layover and delay in Istanbul, and a mix up getting picked up in Samsun, my day got very long, but it all turned out just fine. 

The sky was so pretty on my flight into Samsun. 

          On Friday, I got to see a lot of the city and meet a few Rotary exchange students who are also living in Samsun this year. We went to the city center, walked by the coast, went bowling at the biggest mall in the city, and walked around the biggest shopping street. That night, all 4 of us exchange students stayed at my friend Elsa's house and we helped her to make a traditional Jewish Shabbat meal. I really enjoyed seeing a little bit of an important cultural event for her and the food was absolutely delicious. 

The Black Sea. 

The view from Elsa's house. So beautiful!

Me and Elsa! (And our Jewish meal but you can't see it)

           On Saturday, we all went out to breakfast together and then headed back to the city center. Our plan was to go to a hamam but it was closed, so instead we went to a park right on the water that also has a monument to the Amazin warriors, who lived where Samsun now is some say. It was beautiful by the water and cool to see the park. 

Me and Elsa!

Me and Rowan and the sea

With the statue in honor of the Amazon warriors

They change the flower pots at this park everyday to show the date. This was the one year anniversary of becoming a YES finalist!

The sunset by the sea was gorgeous

          On Sunday, we went to a wedding in the morning and went back to the city center for the afternoon. I had not brought any nice clothes with me, so we had a bit of an adventure figuring out what to wear but it worked out and I had a really lovely time at the wedding and talking with some of Elsa's host mom's friends who were there. After that, we went to the bazaar and then to an amusement park where we all hung out and talked. That night, we went out to dinner at a delicious restaurant that overlooked the whole city. We were there as the sun set and watching the lights come on in the city was absolutely gorgeous.

Elsa and I for the wedding

With Samsun in the background

With a famous statue in another park. 

          Monday morning, we went to a nearby town and explored a little there. A very nice old man showed us how he makes baskets and then gave us one and we got to go to an extremely old mosque that is said to have been made completely without nails. After that, I had to go to the airport to head home. I ended up meeting several Americans in the airport who were heading to Ephesus and really enjoyed being able to help them out. 

The man showing us how he makes his baskets 

In the really old mosque. 

          I had an absolutely wonderful weekend in Samsun and wish I could have stayed longer. Seeing my friends was amazing and I loved getting to see a different part of Turkey. 

           Thanks for reading! Have a good week! 

How Lucky I Am to Be an American

          Before I came to Turkey, I was certainly aware of how lucky I was to be American but I didn't really have any context for that knowledge. But since I came to Turkey, I've come to understand it so much more. 

           For me, and for many other Americans, we didn't choose to be American; we were just born into it. I could have been born in so many other countries, but by some stroke of luck, I was born and got to grow up in America. I got to grow up in what so many consider to be the best country in the world and I got to grow up speaking the language that people struggle for years trying to learn because it's become "the world language". Before I came to Turkey, I knew I was lucky, but now that I have watched my classmates struggle to learn English because they think they have to to go anywhere in life and heard person after person tell me that they wish they could go to America and why would I ever leave such a perfect country, I appreciate what I had so much more. 

          Don't get me wrong; I know how many problems the U.S. has. I come from one of the poorest states in the U.S.  I've seen plenty of bad things happening in the state that I love and I know that it is not limited to New Mexico. Every country has problems, and America is certainly not an exception. But we are working on fixing those things and we have a lot of freedoms to be incredibly thankful for. 

          When it really comes down to it, no matter how many problems the U.S. has, I was really lucky to grow up there. I was given so many incredible opportunities, including the one to come here, because of where I was born. And that's pretty special. 

          This is just my opinion but as I start to think about my return to the U.S. And reflect on the time I've spent here, this idea always pops into my mind. I know not everyone shares the same opinion as I do, but I wanted to share mine. 

          As always, thank you for reading!